By the Numbers: How do I build a game library? – Part I: Collection Development

  

 

Note: When I set out to put some thoughts together about building a wargame collection when you live thousands of miles from the folks that make and sell those games, I thought I’d just dash off a few paragraphs and congratulate myself on a job well done. The deeper I went down the rabbit hole, though, the more I had to say. Part I is about my collection philosophy and what I try to keep in mind when considering a new game (or a new-to-me game).

Part II will look deeper into what it means to pursue already not-all-that-cheap hobby in a country whose geography and economy effectively doubles the cost of everything, and the various tactics I employ to mitigate the cost-hurdles here in Australia. If that’s what you’re most interested in, skip this post and check out Part II in a couple of days.

 

This is the Reading Room of the Barr Smith Library, University of Adelaide,
where I spent many hours reshelving other people's books It was
more fun than it sounds.

A couple of months ago, I received a comment from an anonymous reader (all the comments I receive are anonymous – should I read something into this?) Posing a question. Since the post was anonymous, I’ll reproduce the whole thing here (partly for the ego-boost):

Just found your blog. I've started reading it from the beginning. Enjoying it immensely. I'm glad you've kept it. Nice to get an Australian perspective. I wanted to ask how do you regularly buy games down here at the bottom of the world? I find postage is a killer.

This is something that comes up pretty frequently on the Facebook discussion groups. I guess I buy quite a few games, though not as many as some. I have wound it right bac in the last three years of so; I simply can’t afford all the games I’d like to play, so I’ve set some collection development parameters for myself. I’m not any kind of wealthy, but I don’t spend my discretionary income on much else. Also, in the last five or six years, my interests have focused more on wargames, so I’ve been moving away from role-playing games, and selling off some of my RPG collection, which has in turn freed up some space and capital for wargames.

I’ve written about some of this in Facebook fora, but here I’d like to address the considerations that inform my decisions in buying wargames. This isn’t meant to be some didactic “you’re an idiot if you don’t follow these simple guidelines” screed. The things listed here are what seem to be working for me, at this moment, in my current situation. It’s taken me a while to get to this evolutionary stage in my journey, and sometimes I contradict or ignore my own precepts, but these cases are the exception rather than the rule.

Overall, I think I’m happier for at least trying to stick to what I’ve outlined below. But every gamer’s situation is different. Not everything here will fit every case, but if you learn something from this or get a notion of something you could do differently, then my work here is done.

 

Collection development theory

I trained as a librarian and worked in different library and information management roles for about twelve years (my wife worked in libraries as well; no, that’s not how we met). One thing I took to heart from that experience was the need for a collection development strategy. Well, in our own book collection, at least. For games it took a little longer.

When I started out reestablishing a game collection, I would buy games opportunistically and without a great deal of prior thought. At this time, I was gathering family games and some wargames. I’m as susceptible to the Shiny as the next punter, so I backed a number of Kickstarter campaigns (mostly RPGs and family games, with some wargames and historical games in the mix), and bought others either after playing them with others or on spec. I’ve had a couple of wins; my favourite non-wargame Kickstarter would still be Orleans (dlp games, 2014). Dominion (Rio Grande Games, 2008) is a family go-to game, and Odin’s Ravens (Osprey Games, 2016) is probably my favourite race game (and forgivingly short), while I also backed early Kickstarter campaigns from Worthington Publishing and Flying Pig Games for wargames that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and still have a place in my collection. But I also ended up with a number of games that, while decent enough in their own way, either never gained traction with the family, or left me less than impressed. Many of those I’ve either sold, traded, or given away (mostly for the space saving).

When I started to focus on wargames, I tried to get away from the scattergun approach to collection development, but it still took me some time to pare it down to some rules. I generally try to stick to certain guidelines in buying new games, though not slavishly.  In fact, I’ve never articulated these guidelines in anything but the vaguest terms, and never before written them down.

The principles I try to apply to acquiring new games are these:

Does it look interesting? This is probably the lowest hurdle, so I’ll put that first. Most wargames will have at least a passing interest to me. I have a couple of periods of theatres of war that ae of particular interest, but I’m not exclusive.

Will I be able to play it? This is mostly a consideration for me in terms of table real-estate and duration. I can comfortably set up a two-map game such as Downfall: Conquest of the ThirdReich, 1942-1945 (GMT Games, 2023), but I can’t leave it set up for days on end. My ideal for solo gaming is a single map up to the more or less industry standard (from US publishers at least) 22” by 34” size, plus some reinforcement displays. I have a sheet of 3mm Perspex and pressed board from a poster-sized (24” by 36”) picture frame that I can use to set up a game and (carefully) shift it to and from the table when necessary.

A related question to this one, and one I’ve been asking myself more often lately, How likely am I to get this game to the table in the next twelve or eighteen months? A Fast Game grew out of my wanting to play more of the games I already had, and to acquire new games that I would get around to playing in the foreseeable, whether that be with other people of on my own.

Does it fill a gap in my existing collection? Does the game cover a particular conflict or period of history that I haven’t explored before; one of the things I appreciate most about wargames is the chance to better explore and understand history)?

Does it introduce a novel mechanic or apply an existing mechanism in a new way? I like games with novel mechanics or chrome built in to mimic certain aspects of the historical situation it seeks to represent. A clever, thoughtful, and enjoyable design will often get me over the line on nabbing a new game. Sometimes I’ve regretted this, but not that often.

Does it represent good value for money? This can mean different things in different cases, but usually it’s in terms of raw monetary outlay. Can I justify the cost of this game taking into account the extra costs like shipping, and the less tangible expense of what will I have to go without to buy this game? If I go with Game A, will I have to forfeit Game B, which is also available but likely to not be when I can afford it. This sounds like good advice, but value for money is so subjective that it’s impossible to definitively say something is worth the money.

At time of writing, there’s a second-hand copy of the Great Campaigns of the American Civil War game, Battle Above the Clouds (Multi-Man Publishing, 2010) available through a local (that is, Australian) online retailer at the moment from an Australian seller. With postage, the price will come in at a little below $400.00. As GCACW games go, that price is quite reasonable (copies at Noble Knight Games start at about A$600.00, plus shipping). I’ve never played GCACW and would dearly like to try it out. Would I pay that much for one game? If money was less of a concern, I’d probably grab it; maybe if I had a windfall on my annual Melbourne Cup punt, but as things stand, probably not. But having said that, I just spent $300.00 give or take on some games and a tack of counter trays in the GMT sale without batting an eyelid.

The above-mentioned copy of Battle Above the Clouds (unpunched),
for sale, ironically, at The War Library,

Value is relative, and it’s personal. A relative of mine, another bother-in-law would probably scoff at the idea of spending $300 on games but is happy to drop twice that on a single bottle of Japanese whiskey. When it comes to parting with your hard-earned, everyone has to find their own comfort zone.

Another consideration in the value for money stakes is a game’s replay value. I’ve never been tempted to try a “legacy” game, where the verisimilitude of the game experience is increased by decisions having consequences for the materiel of the game itself. To me this feels like an act of vandalism, denying someone else the opportunity to experience the game for themselves. I’m drawn more to games that contain multiple scenarios, or even multiple games. A big part of the appeal of games like the Commands and Colors family is the sheer tonnage of replayability what comes with each box.

*

So, that’s a brief look at the things I think about when I’m thinking about buying a game. At least, that’s how it looks on paper. Individual cases vary.

Like I said, this isn’t meant to be a how-to, it’s just a look at how I think about adding to the collection. I don’t adhere slavishly to my own precepts, but having a broad intent in purchasing wargames has helped me build a collection I’m happier with and that I’m playing more.

That about covers it for Part I. As I post this, I’m about a third of the way through posting Part II. As the advice in the second half is more about the nuts and bolts of feeding a relatively expensive hobby, I’m trying to be very careful with the suggestions I make. As I said before, everyone’s situation is different. I don’t have a lot of disposable cash, but we own our place and we don’t have kids, so we aren’t faced with the responsibilities or constraints that a lot of people have to deal with. This is a disclaimer I’ll probably add to the beginning of the next part.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. I hope it’s been of some use. I’ll get back to writing reviews and game reports just as soon as I’ve got this out of my system.